Kings and Rivers
by Ember Nickel
Summary: Janduin and Shaiel share a quiet moment in the middle of the war.


"It is not right," said Janduin. "No man should wield such strength that every spear-every sword in the land can be summoned at his voice."

Shaiel regarded him with resignation. The Aiel marched to avenge _Avendoradela_, and they would kill any wetlander who stood in their way, until Laman woke from the nightmare he had unleashed. But Cairhien would crown another king, or perhaps a queen. Not even the Aiel spears could kill the ancient tradition of monarchy.

"I am sorry, shade of my heart," he went on. "I should not speak ill of your homelands' ways."

"If you find it true, then speak," said Shaiel. "But it is not as plain as you think."

"Who are you, to know my thought?"

"You have made the trek to Rhuidean. You know it is not easy, that many die from heat or starvation, and others do not return from-the perils of the city." What Janduin had seen in Rhuidean, he did not speak of even to Shaiel. "Yet that is the only way to be made a chief."

"That is true."

"To be a king or a queen, it takes no journey, only a noble birth. To you it must seem like ease, another soft wetlander custom. But in exchange for this birthright, one has no freedom. A king or queen cannot wed as they choose; they must find a fitting match to sustain their dynasty. They cannot choose when they dance the spears; they must lead the nation and serve their people if attacked. Their struggle begins after they take the throne, not before."

"You know much of wetlander kings."

Shaiel gave a thin smile. "Kings are like rivers, in the Westlands. You do not need to live beside them to hear tales of their passing."

"Were you like a queen, then? When your Aes Sedai spoke to you?"

"What?" Shaiel jerked sharply.

"The Aes Sedai who had the...dream, the vision, that you must come to the Three-Fold Land and be as an Aiel. You were moved by the hand of her prophecy."

She chose her words carefully. "I suppose that was a queenlike thing, to do what was my duty. I did not feel very regal, though."

"When we take the fifth, I will give you all the splendor from the wetlander palace. Even an ancient throne. Although perhaps not this new throne the Cairhienin boast of."

Shaiel, for all her many acculturations, had never mastered the subtleties of Aiel humor, so she merely smiled and let Janduin play with her hair.

The encampment was sprawling by the standards of the Westlands. For the Aiel, it was a luxury to place so many tents together without fear for where they would fill their waterskins. Most of those who had gathered near the southern edge were Taardad; two men from the Jagged Spire sept stood guard at the nearest corner.

"I see you, Janduin." Hiath, a passing Stone Dog, raised his spear in greeting.

"I see you, Hiath," Janduin said. "Sleep well, and wake."

"They see me, too," Shaiel noted, once Hiath had returned to his camp.

"You are very lovely," Janduin said plainly. "Let them see."

"When the child is near-grown, they will know you have not done your duty as chief to send me away. You will have _toh_ to them."

"No!" Janduin snapped. "Hiath will dance with _Shae'en M'taal_, as you do with _Far Dareis Mai_ and I do with _Cor Darei_. The Stone Dogs will not tell the Maidens who they may count in their number."

"And my spear-sisters? When they see I have broken my marriage vows?" She did not add _for the second time_; the honor she earned from the Maidens was greater than anything Taringail Damodred had ever bestowed upon her.

"I dearly wish I could intercede for you, but even the fool who seeks water in a sandstorm is wiser than the man who meddles in the business of the Maidens."

"The prophecy binds me until Tar Valon, no further. If we turn south, towards the city of Cairhien, I will have no _toh_ if I lay down the spear."

"You would return to suckling a babe, when you have seen war? Have endured every hardship to become a Maiden?"

"I was a mother first," Tigraine said gently, stroking Janduin's light beard. "Though fate bid me abandon my son, I would not leave a second child."

Janduin nodded. "You need but say the word, and I would follow you anywhere. Even among the treekillers."

"You? Live in the Westlands and guzzle down freshwater like a king?"

Janduin kissed her cheek. "If one such as you can become a wondrous Maiden of the Spear, I can endeavor to live even beyond the Three-Fold Land."

* * *

Brenna stepped through the columns.

She had been Shaiel, had known her grandmother's obedience and pride, had sensed her grandfather's wisdom and courage among the Taardad. They had had fate in prophecy, but were not helpless slaves of the Wheel. They chose to take up their spears, like their brothers and sisters in battle, for the sake of _ji_.

Her mother, Aviendha, had told Brenna that the truths the glass columns revealed were different for each sojourner who crossed the Three-Fold Land. For Brenna's father, it had been an immersion in the Aiel as a people. Before he could shed the blood that ran through him, he needed to know the blood of his fathers. But for Aviendha, it had been a lesson that not all visions need dictate the future.

Brenna could not avoid the weight of a family name. She was the daughter of the Dragon Reborn, and soon to be a Wise One of the Taardad in her own right. But she would have choices of her own to make, and serve the Light in her own way.

So she turned towards the streets of Rhuidean that now pulsed with life, where Ogier sang as they built and crowds of people flowed through the streets, where _Tsodrelle'Aman_ abounded with fresh water. She had a duty to her people, for which she had been newly Dedicated.


End file.
